On the outside Emily Bruel lives the perfect life. She’s been happily married for almost ten years with two beautiful children. Living on New York City’s Upper East Side, she inhabits a palatial townhouse that was once an embassy. She has a live-in nanny, a housekeeper, a cook, a driver, a masseuse and a trainer. Young, skinny, stunning, she wants for nothing. Except, of course, the want she has for her husband to stop ignoring her existence and touch her, the way he did once.
Emily starts rewinding her love story with the most beautiful man she has ever laid eyes on: Louis Bruel. He was once deemed New York City’s most eligible bachelor. He plucked and hooked the then eighteen-year-old innocent and stunning Emily Marcus before the world had a chance to lay eyes on her. He created a life for Emily that others could only dream of. Was she a fool to trust that one woman could be enough for the insatiable, gorgeous, playboy millionaire? Can their uninhibited, scorching romance just fizzle out and die? With the help of ‘80s songs we journey back with Emily into their lives and their love in rewind.
Love in Rewind was recommended to me by my good friend, Sarah, who also happens to be a reviewer for Inked in Chapters. I trust her; so when she said to read this book and do it now, I did. Unfortunately I did not have the same happy sunshine filled feelings she had about it.
I should've known the end would be closing in on my fairy tale eventually. Fairy tales aren't meant to last outside the pages of a book.
The good:
I liked the premise of the book. We first meet Emily and
Louis in the present. He’s more or less being a dick, and she’s concerned about
the rapid deterioration of their relationship. It’s rough because you’re not
sure if you’re supposed to love or hate Louis. He seems almost perfect
throughout the book, but there’s this little voice in the back of your mind
whispering to you about what you’ve read in the prologue. That feeling continues until your about 70 -75% of the way into the book. I like that little added bit of
mystery. I also liked the use of 80’s
songs to explain feelings. I am guilty of loving 80’s music, so it was right up my alley.
The bad:
This is probably easiest to tackle in list form…
→ Insta-love (...is not my thang.)
Insta-lust? Yup.
Attraction? Sure.
Love? No.
Louis claimed LOVE from the moment he saw Emily. I've known you for a day, move in with me and have my babies! I just don't buy it. Love is so much deeper than a glance across a room. It's more than wanting to bang someone where they stand. It's a deep down guttural type thing. I would have loved it if Louis had to chase her a little more, get to know the woman (or girl, really.) Give me some angst.
→ Insta-love (...is not my thang.)
Insta-lust? Yup.
Attraction? Sure.
Love? No.
Louis claimed LOVE from the moment he saw Emily. I've known you for a day, move in with me and have my babies! I just don't buy it. Love is so much deeper than a glance across a room. It's more than wanting to bang someone where they stand. It's a deep down guttural type thing. I would have loved it if Louis had to chase her a little more, get to know the woman (or girl, really.) Give me some angst.
→ Little girl.
Louis and Emily meet when Emily is a whopping 18 years old.
Louis is 29. Not a huge HUGE deal, but still a little creepy, especially when
he makes a comment about how much he’s hoping she’s of age. Obviously he
realizes she's VERY young, but that doesn’t stop him from pursuing her. He calls
her “little girl” throughout the book. I’m not into DD/lg type stuff at all –
even in this tiny minuscule way – so I wasn’t a fan of the nickname. It was
just a constant reminder of their age difference.
"I can swim, I love to swim," I said as I kissed him, smiling. I was so excited I actually felt like the little girl that Louis kept referring to me as."
→ Her parents
I don’t understand these people at all! They’re not okay
with their daughter even considering sleeping over her friend’s house, but
they’re all honky-dory about her dating a man 11 years her senior, who also
happens to be a known man-whore. Tali does say that Emily’s parents are
clueless to that part of Louis’s life, but how is that possible with all the
media coverage he gets for being some hotshot real estate guru? If they focus
on his bachelorhood in the press, chances are his escapades would be included.
I just found the dynamic a little…odd.
→ The sex
In all honesty, this book is a bunch of sex scenes strung
together with a flimsy storyline. Hey, sometimes you need to read about two
people getting it on – constantly. I get it. I just prefer more substance to
what I’m reading. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with reading
straight smut. We all need it from time to time. This just wasn’t the time for
me.
I have a hard time with books that over-romanticize sexual
encounters. Do I love sex? Yes, yes I do. Do I cum at the same time as my husband
every time we have it? No. Do you? Do you have orgasm after orgasm? Do you have
a big O just by hearing someone talk to you, even after 10 years of marriage?
It’s highly unlikely. All of the sex scenes were over-the-top - words like
ginormous and gargantuan were used to describe the size of Luis’s member - and
there were so many sexual encounters that after a while I grew tired of reading
them. *GASP* I know, I know…
There’s also the fact that Emily doesn’t even lose her
V-card to Louis until well into the book (around 50% or so). I’m all for
holding onto it, but by that time she’d already done so many things with him,
she might as well just hand it over. Again, it was a long while to wait for it
to finally happen.
→ Louis Bruel
If Emily used his full name one more stinkin’ time…
I get it, he’s a big wig.
→ The bestie
Sara was… well, I didn’t like her. The choices she made
caused her to be very…unlikable. I know Tali is planning a book around her
character, but I’m not sure I’ll ever read it, simply because I didn’t care for
her in THIS book.
There’s probably more, but this is getting long. My aim is
not to bash the author, or the book, but to show you how two people can see
things in a different light. Sarah LOVED Love
in Rewind; you may, too. Unfortunately, I didn’t. That doesn’t make Tali a bad author or Sarah
a bad reviewer or me a mega bitch. It means we’re all unique. We all have
opinions. It’s what makes life – and our book community – so beautiful. If we’re
not honest, we’re nothing. THAT is why I chose to review this book. A “bad”
review isn’t necessarily bad. It shows the author how others perceive their
book. It helps them grow, mold, and develop their craft. Do I think Tali has the potential to write an
amazing book? Sure, I do. Love in Rewind
just wasn’t that one, for me.
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